Made to Be
by Alisceptic
Summary: A young witch in danger crosses the path of the Winchesters, who will help her escape the demons that are after her, so that she can fulfill her destiny.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

I cannot believe I'm here. How did this all happen? I was fine, I had everything planned. No mistakes, I did what I was taught. So how come I ended up on the backseat of that car, watching my house burn down, escaping the safe life that I had planned for myself. I was finally getting out of there. Maybe going back to the beginning would help me make sense.

Two years ago, I moved in a small abandoned house in Walhalla, North Dakota, less than a thousand habitant. I had escaped my old life in California where my name and my reputation had made it difficult for me to stay anonymous any longer. The successive disappearances of every member of my family had started to arouse suspicions. So I left. Again. People in Walhalla did ask questions when we arrived with my uncle, who was barely ten years older, ready to settle in, coming from nowhere. My new name was Betty Miller, orphan after a car incident that killed both my parents, and now raised by my uncle Tom, the new physics teacher. Everything was going fine, I did not get much attention here, my academic results were spotless, like my behavior. I had a few friends, though no one close enough to share my deep secrets and all of that crap. The kind of life I had dreamt to have as a kid.

But they found me, like they always do. What is the phrase? Where angels go, trouble follows. Well, it must be the same with witches. Tom and I were on our usual investigations. Two college kids had been slaughtered by some kind of animal over three weeks. Nothing to alarm the cops, animal attacks are not really unusual in North Dakota. But we had to follow up. Tom did not want to let any demon spot me here, or we would have to move again. He liked the place. So we went looking for answers. The bodies were shred, we couldn't even recognized the victims. Demons with claws then. The murders had not been committed during full moon, so we were not expecting werewolves; and Tom was afraid that they might be the victims of hellhounds, which meant that demons were in town. That was not a good sign for me, we had to act fast and get rid of them before they found out that Betty Miller was actually the witch all Hell was after. Luckily, my "uncle" had good relations with the sheriff department and the council committee; everybody loved him in this town. Everybody loved him at school too, which was no wonder: besides being a very handsome and charming man, Tom was also kind, caring, one of the good ones. He started training me a few years ago, even before the last member of my family died. He had been a hunter for decades, ever since his family had been slaughtered by a group of vampires near L.A.; which my aunts later killed. You might think he was looking for revenge, but I would rather say he was craving for peace. He had never tried to live a normal life after this, and I felt responsible for that. How can a man like him date when he has a girl hidden in his closet? He had had a few girls, of course, but nothing seems to matter apart from the training. We had spent so much time taking care of each other that the rest of the world started to fade away. It was then quite natural to spend our Friday afternoon questioning the victims' families. First one was Matthew Corin, freshman at UND; his mother gave us the usual answers : "he didn't have any enemies, everybody loved him", "he was such a sweet kid"… She was really suspicious of me being here though, and she did not really buy my story about an elegy in the school newspaper. One thing I have learnt is that people are never "such sweet kids", everyone has a secret, a flaw. One trip to his room pretexting a bathroom break taught me that Matthew's was popularity. When his mother claimed that everybody loved him, what she actually meant was that he was popular in college, but before, not so much. No pictures on the wall, no signed yearbook, no sign of a social activity. Was he the type of guy to exchange his soul for popularity? Could be.

"So what did you find?" Tom asked once we were back inside the car.

"Nothing special, I guess he was kind of an outcast in high school, but grew popular in college"…

"Just like many other kids" he interrupted. "Let's check the other family". As he started the car, a black impala parked behind us in front of the Corin's house. The Feds.

"Let's move on, I've got some homework waiting for me at home" I pointed out.

The other family was more helpful. Chloe (that was the name of the second victim) was in third-year of med school, she had been attacked while visiting her parents for a weekend. She had never been successful at school but everything changed two years ago, when suddenly she succeeded at everything she did without even a change in attitude. Her parents seemed to think that maybe someone might have been jealous of her. They even went as far as to hint at a woman she had met here in Wallhalla, at the time when everything changed for Chloe. We are definitely dealing with a Crossroad Demon.

"So how are we doing this?" I asked Tom.

"There is no "we", you've got homework to do, remember?" he grinned at me.

"Don't be ridiculous, you know I need the training, we can't let her escape, it's too dangerous"

"Exactly, it's too risky, the stakes are too high, drop it" This was the end of the discussion.

Like I was going to listen to him. Tom may train me, but he was only human and this was too dangerous.

There was not many crossroads in the small town of Wallhalla, about ten actually, but there was only three that both victims had in common. After much trouble, Tom agreed to bring me with him to search the crossroads for signs of a trade, on the condition that I would disappear when the demon showed up.

The second crossroad was the good one. We found two boxes there. Tom drew some entrapping symbols on the ground so that the demon wouldn't escape and summoned him. I pretended to go away, but stayed hidden instead, just in case. And I was right.

The demon appeared and when it realized that it was trapped, got hold of Tom's arm. I panicked. I couldn't let him die because of me, like the rest of my family. I reappeared and threw an energy ball at her. She was thrown on the floor, Tom crawled away, and I was pushed down on the floor too. That, I did not expect. The guys I thought were Feds earlier on were aiming at me with a gun. The taller one killed the crossroad demon with some kind of knife, her black spirit vanished in the air, and helped Tom stand up. What the Hell? They were clearly hunters, so why did he want to shoot me?

"Wait, what are you doing?" yelled Tom, finally.

"Listen, man, she is not who you think she is…" The shorter one replied.

"Who you think she is", what did that mean? Did they know who I really was? Were they working for the other side?

"She is not a demon, she's a witch…" Tom argued, probably as lost as I was.

"Exactly, she's a witch, she needs to be killed or all the murders won't stop, I don't know what she told you, man but…"

"Wait, what?" I commented. "I never killed anyone! What kind of hunters are you? You know the legends with the broom and stuff aren't real, right?"

"Yeah, smart move, pissing off the guy aiming at you with his rifle, young lady"

"She didn't do it, the crossroad demon did; it was collecting the souls. Witches don't rip people apart" Tom argued.

"Witches have magic, they can do whatever they want, especially for revenge"

"There's a difference between the good witches and the bad ones, dumbass. If I were a revengeful witch, you would already be dead by now" I said, my face still on the concrete. This was starting to get on my nerves. Either they did not know what they were doing or they were trying to justify themselves for capturing me and send me straight to Hell. It was impossible for me to watch Tom's expression, so I trusted my guts and decided they were just morons.

"Listen, I know what you are doing, just let Tom go, and I'll follow you so that you can get the reward, if you're stupid enough to think they will nicely give it to you without killing you first. You are_ hunters_ after all"

It worked: the shorter one turned me over and asked "what reward?" They did not look like hunters at all. More like underwear models, I would say. One was very tall, athletic, rather long dark brown hair. The other one was slightly smaller, with a rounder face and green eyes. Though they did not look the same, they had some kind of resemblance. They were probably brothers: hunters don't track in groups unless they are family. And they sure were hunters; I could tell by the way they were dressed. No demon would be dressed like workers or hikers. It would be hard to fight those guys, even with Tom's help, and using my powers on them could kill them, I couldn't risk it.

"I'm not a fool, stop pretending you don't know who I am. We all know you are here to take me straight to Hell where demons will welcome me with open arms. So drop the game "oh she's a bad witch, let's capture her" ok, there's only two stupid guys here" I replied.

"What the Hell are you talking about? Who are you? We are no Hell bitches here" said the shorter one, while helping me get up. Apparently my little trick worked: they were as stupid as they were handsome then, good to know.

Tom started speaking: "She's a witch. I don't know what you've heard, but witches are supposed to be good. The ones you are hunting are those who turned their back on good, natural magic. Some demons are after her, because she is hunting, like you, she's a threat. So we are hiding here, in Wallahalla. Now, because of your little intervention, the demon probably saw her and there may be a chance that the word is already spreading down there, so if you'll excuse us" He took my hand and we walked away.

"Wait a minute, what can we do to help? We can find you a new identity, or help you fight…" said the taller one.

"You've done enough, thank you." We had no time to waste on hunters. If Tom was right, we were already in danger.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

Once at home, we were trying to figure out a plan. No need to move out before we were sure of what she saw, but if the demons attacked we couldn't risk the life of the inhabitants either. We needed to come out with a way to know what the crossroad demon knew about me. This was definitely not what I had expected for my Friday afternoon. The best way was to summon the demon and interrogate it. But neither Tom nor I could do it without risking to be found. Demons did not know about Tom, and I would have liked it to stay that way. He had sacrificed enough. So he called the hunters, after all, they _had_ asked if they could help. They were not any hunters, Tom explained that their name was Winchester, probably one of the most famous hunter family.

When they arrived at home, they seem quite happy to help and greeted me as if they had not tried to kill me just a few hours ago. How nice. So, the tallest one was Sam, he seemed cool. The other one, Dean, was a plain jackass, always "happy to kick some demon's butt", he clearly did not trust me and only talked to Tom, as if I were some stupid child. I took the opportunity to ask Sam about the knife he had used against the crossroad demon.

"I don't really know, we took it from another demon actually. But it seems to work like some kind of exorcism. Have you never seen any? You're supposed to know more about this than me"

"I've never seen anything like this before. I should look into it, that's quite cool"

"You don't seem to go out much… Do you know other witches, that kind of stuff?" he asked.

"No… We spend so much time running. Tom is the only thing I have left. They killed my family, you know. I can't risk anyone else's life" I pleaded. But the truth is I never longed for other witches. I'm not the type of girl who shares things and hugs. I don't miss having friends, and Tom, though he is older, is all I need. All I wanted was my family, and I could not have that, since they took it from me. My thoughts must have popped out of my head somehow, because when came back from my memories Sam was looking at me with a kind of solemn, indefinable stare.

"Let's get back to work, love birds" Dean interrupted. Awkward. I looked away, and met Tom's suspicious eyes. Dean explained that I would have to leave the house just in case, while they were torturing the demon. It would be a boy's business then.

I walked towards Tom, told him to be careful, and left. It was not easy to leave him with those two, however famous they may be. They were only humans, and they may be prepared, but they were weak. Those guys had a way out, and yet they still chose that life over and over again. I was not sure I would do the same. I envied those girls whose only concern was to finish school, get a job or find a boyfriend. I will never have a proper job, or a proper boyfriend for that matter, I had no parents to scold me if I came home late, and no prom dress to take care of. It didn't mean I should give up on everything, and college was one thing I had not given up on yet. I had chosen distance learning at the community college, majoring in History and Literature. That is why I headed straight to the library once I was out of the house, not without concern for those guys staying inside.

Most people try to escape studying, but for me, working was the escape. However, it did not work very well that day, as I kept checking my phone for news. After three hours, I decided it was time to worry seriously, so I headed outside to give a call to Tom. As I stood in the empty street, two men got hold of me and took me down a dark alley behind the library. They were massive. They revealed their black demon's eyes and started to fight. I had no notion of real fight and didn't really control my powers either. They must have bought time before the big guy arrived. The reward would only be given if I were alive. Anyway, they were kicking my ass, and it was painful. I tried to defend myself, throwing energy balls here and there, protection shields… but it was difficult to concentrate under pressure. They punched me in the face, I probably broke a leg too, and as I lay on the floor, beaten, they started kicking me on the side to make sure I wouldn't stand up again. And for sure, I wouldn't. I was starting to lose consciousness, there was blood everywhere, when I heard someone calling. I only hoped that person would not get hurt, before the blackout.

When I woke up, I didn't realize what was happening at first. All I knew was that I was hurt, which meant I was not in Heaven. Obviously, a demon's daughter, guilty of lying and other countless sins, would end up straight to Hell. Damn, all that for nothing. I felt that someone was touching my face.

"She's waking up" I heard a voice I did not recognize at first. I opened my eyes.

"Hey" said Sam, "How are you doing?"

"Hurt. Thirsty." I muttered. Shocked. Curious. How come I was alive?

"Here" he handed me a glass of water and continued to clean my wounds.

"Thank you. It hurts… how did you…"

"You should be fine. The demon told us that they were already after you, so we followed you and killed the demons. But there is more to come. Tom is protecting the house, and Dean is trying to find a solution to hide you" Sam explained. Up close, he looked really handsome. Innocent, the good kind of guys, he had nothing to do here.

"Is Tom okay?" I asked.

"Yes, he is fine, don't worry. Rest, we will find a solution. You will have to be on the run again." He looked concerned. Was it possible that he worried about me?

"I'm used to it. But Tom is not going to like it. He liked this town. I screwed up everything again" Tears dropped, biting each of my wound. Like I wasn't humiliated enough, now I was starting to break down in front of strangers. Great. He patted me on the arm.

"It's not your fault. You'll be fine, don't worry." He looked even more worried, weird.

I needed to find a solution. I pretended to fall asleep and the moment after Sam left, I sat upon the bed and opened my witch book. It was huge, heavy on my broken limbs, ancient, the weight of the experience of a line of witches as old as time. Every solution was in here.

Two hours later, I knew what to do. I rushed to the living room, where the three men were reading and talking, beer in hand.

"I have an idea" I started. I put my book down on the table, open onto a page about a multiplication spell.

"You should be resting, let us find a solution…" Tom scolded me, as if I were a child. We were only a few years apart, but sometimes he forgot. I pushed him away as he tried to make me sit. It was mean but necessary.

"I'm going to multiply myself, lure them into following me, so that they won't understand, they won't know where to look because I will be everywhere. It will give us time to escape" It will give ME time to escape, but that part of the plan I kept to myself for now.

Dean looked at me, thinking: "That's actually a good idea". I was offended by what his expression implied but decided to ignore him, to turn to Tom, a proud look on my face. "So how do we do this?" Sam asked.

"Well, _we_ don't do anything. The two of you need to go. Drop Tom off somewhere, so that they won't make the connection between us. I'll cast the spell, I just need a few things, and I'll blew up the house, to cover our tracks. And I'll leave" It was my explanation, but it was not the whole truth. Tom must have sensed it, as he replied:

"You can't cast the spell on your own. You'll need help, just in case it goes out of control"

"I don't need help" I grunted. His patronizing attitude was beginning to annoy me.

Dean intervened: "how about Sam takes you away first, and I stay with her to help just in case?" He looked at me with wondering eyes, probably thinking about what "going out of control" mean, after all how dangerous could a girl like me be?

I was considering my options; would he let me escape when time comes? But Tom wasn't ready to let that go, saying it was too dangerous, I wouldn't be safe.

"Would you just stop treating me like a child? I'm not your niece, remember! Why can't you just trust me for once, and stop putting yourself in danger because you're scared!" I shouted. It is hard to handle your emotions when you're a witch. At any time, I could hurt him just because I wanted to protect him. So I always tried to stay calm, which was not my usual temper.

"I care about you; I don't want you to see you get hurt!" Tom replied, with the puppy eyes I hated. I always knew he had some kind of feelings for me – they had grown after years of being stuck in dangerous situations – but I always hated when he used them to make me listen.

"Well, I will get hurt if you don't listen to me. I will get hurt trying to protect you, or them. I will get hurt if you lose too much time fighting, only for a simple spell that can save us all" I argued.

Sam and Dean gave a long look at each other, uncomfortable witnesses of a couple's fight. It was awkward for all of us, but I wanted them to see my point as I knew Tom would listen to them, if not to me.

"I agree with the girl, here. It sounds like a good plan." Dean finally decided.

"I'll stay with her, she will be fine, I promise, we've done this before" added Sam.

I was glad he would be the one to stay. If I had to convince one of them to let me go without Tom, it would probably be him. His brother was different, he was more dutiful to his job and would not understand that I wanted another life on my own. Without me, Tom would be able to come back here, or elsewhere, and have a life. That was the right decision, I was sure of that.

And so it was decided, my friend could not argue anymore. He packed his bag, and said goodbye. He smiled at me while seating in a car Dean had rented, telling me to be careful. He looked worried, all the more so when he saw the sad look on my face. I knew I could not betray my intentions, but it was so hard to see him leave, knowing I would probably never see him again.

I allowed myself a few tears once alone in my room. It was agreed that we would wait until the next day to cast the spell and leave; so Sam and I spent the evening talking, watching TV, trying to pretend that everything was okay. We talked about my powers, and I tried to reassure him about the spell. I knew there was no way I could lose control over this; there was too much at stake. He told me about his life, he had been to college but never finished it as the hunt caught him up again.

I could not sleep that night. So I just got up and packed my things. I knew a spell that could store my things in some magical locked space, so I chose what I would need the most casted the spell, and kept a bag to take on the road. When I was done, I just roamed about, not knowing what to do. Around 3am, I heard a knock on the door.

"Are you okay?" It was Sam. For a moment, I almost believed it to be Tom. It's funny how much you miss people once you know you won't see them again.

"Yes, sure. I'm fine. Why are you up?" I asked. No need to spill my feelings now.

"I'm used to sleeping just a few hours. What are you doing?" he was suspicious, especially when he saw my spell book on the bed.

"Just tidying, preparing…."I started. He tried to have a look at the book when suddenly it was blown away. Seeing the surprised look on his face, I explained:

"It's protected by my ancestor's spirits. They probably don't trust you, so you won't be able to reach it." I laughed. It was always comforting to see that however alone I might feel, they were there, looking after me. Sam seemed to relax.

"You really look anxious. Is it the spell?" He apparently wasn't ready to let it go. It seemed that I intrigued him; he kept looking at me with wondering eyes. He probably had never seen a witch like me before.

"No, it's the running, I hate having to start all over again every time. I have no friends, no family, and I'm putting Tom in danger every day. I hate this" I let a tear drop on my cheek so that it would look convincing. I might as well use his concern for my later purpose.

"I'm sure he likes doing this for you" Sam replied, and we both knew what he was trying to say.

"It's not like that. I don't want him to live for me. I want him to have a life, away from demons. He has a choice, and he always chooses the wrong life. I can't always feel guilty, it's eating me up" I gave him a long pleading look, until he turned away.

"Well, if you're not tired, we might as well start now. Are you ready? I'll put the bags in the car" he started, getting off the bed.

"I can do that" I said, smiling, trying to light up the atmosphere. A movement of the hand and the bags were gone.

"Nice move, it must be handy" he laughed. "What do you want me to do now?"

"Well, we're going to go to the attic – that's where I usually do my magic stuff, and I'll explain" I replied.

Once in the attic, I poured some ingredients into the bowl, holding my spell book in one hand. I explained to him that he needed to stand back while I was casting the spell, but if he saw that I lost control (which, if one is used to magic, is very easy to see) then he had to attract my attention, wake me up or knock me out if needed. And then I started casting the spell.

It was long and hard, to multiply myself as much as to confuse demons. It used most of my strength and Sam had to carry me downstairs once we were done. But I was proud to see I did not lose control, everything went well. I took one last look at my house, my old life, and entered the car. Sam poured gas everywhere and light up a match. That's all it took for my life to disappear. I watched it burn away, with all my hopes of a normal life.

"You can sleep now, Betty, it's over. I'll wake you up when we're there" Sam said, while looking at the road ahead of us.

"My name is not Betty, it's Alice." I allowed myself to close my eyes, at least for a while. There was still a lot left to do.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

I woke up when we stopped at the gas station. It must have been around 11 am and it was time to make my move. I had gone that far, I could not back down now. I got up and went to the restroom of the station to freshen up. I was supposed to disappear from there, but I could not do it. The excuse was that I had to explain myself so that no one would be looking for me, but the truth was that I did not really want to leave yet. There was something comforting in being in that car with Sam. So when I came back, we talked:

"Sam, we need to talk. I… I have to go"

He looked at me, silent; he hadn't slept a lot, driving all morning and it probably did not make sense. So I explained:

"I have to go my own way now. I'm putting all of you in danger, you know that. This can go on, I have to survive on my own."

"No" he simply answered. After a long pause (the man must have really been tired) he got angry:

"I'm supposed to drive you back to Tom. That's my job. You're not going to pull any tricks on me, do you understand? He cares about you, he worries about you… I'm not going there empty-handed just saying you're gone. No. I don't care what you want. You'll explain it to _him_, not to me. Do you really think you'll survive on you own out there? Are you that stupid? You're a _child_!"

"A child?! Do you know who I am? I'm one of the strongest witches on earth, probably the most powerful. A child?! I'm twenty-two, and I've watched every member of my family get killed because they all wanted to protect me. I am not a child, I am strong, I am determined. I was only polite when I told you about it, because truth is, I can do whatever the Hell I want, you can't stop me…."

But he could: he knocked me out, and I woke up in some kind of basement, tied to a chair.

"Dean and Tom are coming soon. I'm sorry for hurting you, but I didn't know what else to do."

"Seriously? You know I'm right about this. You are only making it harder. Dean would have understood."

I knew I had struck a chord there. It was the goal. I was angry at him, I thought he would understand. I was angry at myself for not leaving when I had the opportunity. I used my powers to untie myself and stood up.

"Do you think you big boys can decide for me all the time? You don't even know what you are doing! You chose this life, you don't know what you are getting yourself into!" I started, when I heard the car. I was really angry this time. I could have blown Sam out if I didn't calm down. But it was too late. They were already there.

Tom was disappointed, hurt, and I blamed Sam for it. I gave him an angry look, and started to talk:

"Listen, it's not what you think. I didn't mean to hurt you, but it can't go on like this. It's too dangerous. You need a life. You need a family, work, holidays… I want you to have all this. I don't want you to get hurt because all Hell is after me. I don't want you to be on your own all your life because of me"

What I did not expect was Dean's interruption:

"She's right. How about we hide her somewhere, show her some stuff, keep an eye on her. You could have her on the phone every once in a while, but you won't get hurt. We'll protect her"

Neither Tom nor I knew what to say. Sam did not look surprised, he probably had the idea while I lay unconscious. But why? Tom wondered the same thing:

"Since when did you switch sides?"

"Listen, dude" Dean replied, "the girl clearly is determined. One day or another she's going to run away, and you won' t find her. This way everybody wins: the human stay safe, the witch stay hidden"

"I don't care about my safety" Tom pleaded

"But I do. Could you leave us alone, boys, please?" Sam and Dean left the room. "It's not that I don't want you to stay, believe me, I feel safe with you, but it's too dangerous. I love you, and because I do, I feel guilty all the time, for not giving you a shot at a real life, and it's eating me up. We can't go on like this, pretending it's ok"

I knew I had won there. Hinting at my feelings for him was the best way to make him agree. And so he left, with every phone numbers the Winchesters had. When we said goodbye, I felt like I was dying a little inside. And I was, he was leaving forever, my only friend, my family, like others had left before, with a part of my life.

I wanted to lay in bed and cry for days, but I had to stay strong, because I needed to get the Winchesters off my back. So I asked them what their plan was.

"Well, for now, you're going to stay with us until we find somewhere to leave you" Dean answered.

It sounded like a nice plan. I wanted to see how hunters worked "for real", as Tom and I only hunted for survival, like amateurs … But there was no more Tom and I.

So we left again, and stopped in a cheap motel for the night. At least, I was allowed my own room, which meant they trusted me to a certain extent. Or maybe they just didn't know what to do with me. Anyway, in my room I had plenty of space to break down, after hours of holding it back. And I did. I only stopped sobbing when I heard a knock on the door, an hour after we settled in. Sam came in to ask me if I needed anything. Seeing my red eyes, he asked me if he could do something. It was awkward for both of us, so I replied I just needed some time, that I would be fine in the morning. And then, he tried to hug me.

"What are you doing?" I freaked out.

"I'm comforting you, that's what friends do" He answered, quite surprised. I bet he was surprised, he was probably not used to girls rejecting him.

"I don't need that, thanks, I'm fine" I replied, closing the door. I spent a few hours meditating on what he meant when saying that we were friends: we met a day ago, and he knocked me down twice. I finally decided that my behavior may have been exaggerated and I decided to go and see him.

Going in their room was even more awkward. Fortunately, Sam answered the door.

"I wanted to say I was sorry for what I did earlier, I'm just adjusting. It's been a hard day. Anyway, good night" And I left. The two hunters laughed so hard I could hear them from my room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

Getting used to the Winchesters' lives was not easy: the driving around, the cheap motels… I spent most of my time alone; at least that's how I felt. But the truth was they always kept an eye on me, just in case. They probably did not trust me enough to think I was going to stay, or they considered me as a victim they had to protect. I was promised that I would be included in the hunt, but in the end my job was mainly research… and staying in the car. I was a witch consultant. But about two months after I joined them, things changed.

We went on a case in Michigan, not too far from Niles, to hunt what probably was some kind of blood-sucker monster, who had fed on twelve victims in less than two weeks. After arriving to the motel, Dean already started bossing around:

"Sam and I are going to question the sheriff and go to the morgue, meanwhile stay here and we'll call you if there is anything you should look into"

"Yeah, as usual" I replied, already turning on the TV, prepared for an afternoon of boredom.

Dean nodded, already upset at me, and Sam laughed.

"What do you want me to say? Yes, chief, of course, King of the hunters? I've spent two months following you around like a puppy, spending my days like a prisoner in a cell! And willingly, because I could have gone if I wanted to! So excuse me if sarcasm is the only way I can express my frustration! I was supposed to hunt…"I started yelling.

"You were supposed to HIDE! Don't forget what's behind you, and don't suppose you can scream at me any time you want! I am not Tom, you are going to obey me and until I see fit, you will not get out of that room!" To which I replied by throwing them out with my powers and slammed the door at them.

They were gone for 3 hours when Dean knocked at my door, with news, and an apology:

"Look, I'm sorry I talked to you this way, I had no right. We just want to protect you"

It sounded rehearsed. Sam probably had asked him to come and apologized, just in case I might decide to go bad or something.

"Apologizing is not your style" I only replied, showing that I was still angry, "What do you have for me?"

"Nothing, we think the monster is probably a Vetala, the bodies were drained but no sound of screaming, or defense…"

"But they don't usually do that much damage; they must be a lot…"

"Sam and I are going to what we think is their lair to finish it all. I'll give you the coordinates just in case" he said, and I obeyed.

Sam explained to me what they had found, and I grew suspicious. The marks found on the body were not those of a Vetala, they were too numerous… And why would they hunt at night if they could control their victim… I tried to cast a spell to find Vetala on the map… but only vampires were revealed, and there were loads of them. The boys should have thought about it before going there like that. I prepared a few potions to kill the vampires and teleported to the address Dean had given me. I entered a tunnel, trying to be discreet, I hid against a wall just in time to see Sam and Dean lying on the floor, hands and feet tied, ready to be eaten. I smiled thinking of Dean's face when he would realize that _I_ saved their ass.

I threw a few energy balls for distraction and when all the vampires got there (there were about 10, quite a big clan) I pushed them against the wall all at once, and threw some potions that killed three or four of them. I untied the hunters just in time for some vampires to get away from my powers. It took us some time to destroy the nest and call it a night.

Back in the car, I waited for an apology, and yet nothing but an awkward silence. At the motel, I waited, again, and nothing, except that Dean looked really upset. So I decided to let him calm down while I was changing (it turns out hunting is a rather dirty job), and then I would go and talk to him. I may have disobeyed and hurt his manly feelings, but he had no excuse for giving me the silence treatment. Sam knocked at the door to know if I wanted to grab a drink with them later on. He was in a really good mood so I asked him what was going on.

"I like the way you piss Dean out. Come on, celebrate your first kill!"

"What do you mean, piss him out? I saved your asses! And that was not my first kill, I'm a witch, I've killed demons before"

"Come on, you know what I mean, and if you go on like this, he's going to tie you to a chair, and lock you in a safe! Have you seen his face when he saw it was you coming to save us? Hilarious…"

"You mean I should have left you get killed? Next time I'll know! You sexist morons, look what happens when you keep me locked away! And stop laughing that hard, it's not funny! I'm not coming if he is going to make his speech on obedience once again…"

"I won't if you promise never to tell that story, ever…" said Dean as he came in. He seemed more relaxed, so I attempted a joke.

"Come on, grumpy man, aren't you glad I saved you?"

"Shut up!"

"Let's say we're even now! Are you serious, oh grumpy old guy, am I allowed to go to the forbidden kingdom of booze with the slayers?"

So, we spent a few hours together, talking about demons and life. They told me hunting stories; and for the first time since I went on that car with them, I felt like I belonged. I was not the damsel in distress whom Dean wanted me to be, I was one of them: a badass hunter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

_**A/N**__: So I know that last chapter (or maybe the last two chapters) were quite slow, but I needed to set up some things. Don't stop reading, the action is starting in this chapter, and I know where I'm going so I'll upload very quickly! Please read and review! I do not own Supernatural._

* * *

Time passed, nothing evolved. Cases after cases, we hunted… or rather, they hunted and I stayed behind, helping when they needed. Though I got along with them both, I was still a victim. Dean barely trusted me enough to go buy food on my own. I showed them what I was capable of many times, but I was still left on the backseat. We drove, days after days and the cohabitation was not easy. That was far from every girl's dream of having two super-hot best friends. They were nice to me, we laughed together (it was more like they laughed at me actually)… but I was not their equal. The brothers made an effort to be nice to me, take me out. I started to bond with them, especially with Sam, who got where I came from, we understood each other. One night we stayed up late watching TV while Dean was out chasing girls. Sam was interested in knowing more about my family, so I told him about my father the demon and my mother the witch, the way they fought, the way she died. I told him about the aunt I lived with, until her family was slaughtered trying to protect me. In return, he told me about his mother and father and I knew from the tone of his voice how guilty he felt for everything that had happened. And then he asked "So studies, uh! What's your major?"

"Literature, History minor"

"Wow." He laughed.

"What?"

"It's just so…I don't know. Stereotypical?"

"No. I always loved reading, even as a child. When you're a young witch you don't get many friends so…I read. And then I started liking history when I met Tom. He's a History teacher."

"You seem to like him a lot."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know…" He smirked

"I don't recall asking about your love life"

"Oh, nothing to tell, I can assure you."

"Yeah, sure. Super sexy hunter comes to the rescue but doesn't get the girl? Of course"

He seemed to enjoy the compliment. Like he did not know already how handsome he was.

"Well, Dean generally gets the girls"

"Poor you!" We laughed.

"So that's what you do when you're alone? Read, study… you're such a good girl!"

"Yes I am. I also watch a lot of TV, got addicted to many TV shows because of you two…"

"See already living a normal life!"

I needed to change the subject. If this was his idea of a normal life, it was rather far from mine. Thinking even of the possibility of a change for the better was useless. I would run all my life. Until I went straight to Hell.

"So law school, uh? I can't imagine you there"

"And still there I was"

"What made you quit?"

I could read horror and sadness in Sam's eyes even before finishing my sentence.

"That's a long story. I have to go, I just remembered something about the case"

He fled to his room. Whatever happened must have been pretty bad. I'm guessing someone died. And I'm also guessing he won't be having any conversation with me any time soon.

Dean found a case in Illinois a day after. The drive was kind of tense since Sam had stopped speaking to me. I had gotten used to having him around, and losing an ally was just another blow I could not stand right now. So I decided to solve the mystery by talking to Dean.

"Do you think I'm the guy you should talk to?" was Dean's answer. "Sam's the taller one, with the broody face"

"I told you, he doesn't want to talk to me"

"You people and your need to talk about feelings…"

"I'm not asking for judgmental comment here, Dean. I'm asking for the story. I'm going to apologize, ok; I just need to know why I'm apologizing"

We were in a bar, Dean had already had a few drinks (perfect time to get information out of him, by the way) while his brother had stayed in his room, pretending to have some work to do.

"One night I came asking for his help. Our dad had gone missing. Sam came and we looked for our father, couldn't find him. Sam wanted to go back home, when he arrived the house was on fire and his girlfriend dead"

And so I learnt about the yellow-eyed demon, the powers, their father… their history. In the meantime, Dean had had way too much to drink, so we teleported to the hotel. I didn't want to wake Sam up so I let Dean sleep in my room and remained on the couch, thinking about the hunters' life, and my life. How difficult it must have been for them! They never had the family that I had, an anchor.

In the morning, I was ready to confront Sam. So I went to get some coffee for the three of us before heading to Sam's room.

"Hey Sam! How are you doing?"

"Great, what about you?"

The tone of the question seemed to imply something. Was he still pissed at me for asking about his girlfriend?

"Fine. Listen, I wanted to talk to you about…"

"Eh, none of my business what the two of you have going on there. I don't want to know."

"The two of us?"

"Don't play dumb. I don't know how things worked with Tom, but honesty is kind of a big deal."

"What are you talking about?"

"Dean, in your room, sleeping in your bed …"

"We didn't sleep together"

"You don't have to explain anything to me"

"No I don't indeed. But we didn't sleep together"

"Sure"

"Are you calling me a slut?"

"I'm calling you an easy target for Dean"

"He was drunk. I slept on the couch. I was coming here to apologize, but here's your coffee. Now if you'll excuse me, the easy target is going back to her room"

How stupid did he think I was, seriously? Dean?! I slammed the door after me, as Dean got out of the shower.

"What's going on?"

"What did you tell your brother about last night?"

"Nothing"

"Dean, BS, he just implied that I was a slut for sleeping with you"

"He called you a slut?" It seemed to amuse him. Bastard.

"An easy target, to be exact."

"That's more like Sammy. To be frank, it was easy to jump on that conclusion"

"Dean…" I gave him the most intimidating look I could. It was already annoying to have Sam think I was that kind of girl, I wasn't sure I could handle Dean making jokes about it too.

"I'll talk to him."

The rest of the day was long. As in "If I could, I would jump out of the car while it's still rolling" long. Sam was sulking, glaring at the landscape, and at me through the wing mirror. I was glaring back at him. And Dean was just laughing at our reaction.

We went to see the wife of a guy who had died choking razorblades. He was not the first one around here. While the brothers were interrogating the wife, I had a look around and found a hex bag underneath the mattress of their bed. I hurried downstairs, discretely showed the bag to the hunters and we headed off.

"So a witch, uh?" Dean smiled, probably thinking about a witch vs witch fight.

"Yes, and a powerful one. We need to interrogate the other victim's families to find her. Quickly."

"Since when are you bossing us around?" Sam replied. It was time to end the fight.

"Dean could you wait in the car please?"

"Oh no, I want to see this" Dean laughed. I glared. He was gone.

"Ok, what's wrong with you? Why are you so angry? I told you I did not sleep with Dean"

"And I don't believe you."

"Why does it affect you so much? How the hell is that your business?"

"Because we all had a nice thing going on, a professional thing. And now, thanks to you, it's gone."

"Ok, first: a professional thing?! You're hunting with your brother, and spend your time drinking and chasing girls. That's not what I call a professional thing. Second, thanks to me? Seriously? What about Dean?"

"He's just being Dean. You were supposed to resist him"

"And I did. He has no interest with me, and I have no interest in him. Why can't you believe that?"

"Every girl has an interest with Dean. You're just lying to yourself"

"So that's pure jealousy"

"Why would I be jealous?"

"I don't know. Maybe because he always gets the girls, as you said before"

"How stupid is that? Now everything is going to go wrong. You're going to be mad at him when he will chase another girl, he's going to be angry at you for not understanding, and I'm just going to stand here, between the two of you. You're going to leave, or he's going to, who knows. Or maybe someone is going to die because you let your feelings cloud your judgment."

"You're just being overly dramatic. Damn it, nothing happened between me and Dean. Why would I lie to you?!" And we got into the car.

In the afternoon we split up to interrogate the other witnesses, which gave me some time away to forget about Sam's reaction. We finally came down to one suspect, Laura Brenthill. She was one of the victim's secretary and another's neighbor, so we decided to pay her a little visit. Dean did not want me to come with them, in case it went wrong, but it was too dangerous for them to fight a witch on their own.

So we entered, as FBI agents, even though she already knew we were not. Laura was strong, I could sense it, just like she could sense me. So as soon as she closed the door, I chose the defensive approach, pushed the boys against the wall and protected them with a protective halo.

"Hello, Laura"

"Hi, Alice" She was certainly not taken aback "I was waiting for you"

She attacked me with her powers and Dean tried to shoot her. I could not use my power against her while defending them, so I decided to take the risk and threw a few attacks at her. Paralyzing her against the wall, I remembered the invocation to steal someone's powers. We both fell to the floor simultaneously, exhausted. Dean aimed at her with her gun while Sam helped me get up.

"What did you do to her?"

"I took her powers away. She's harmless."

So Dean put down his gun and started to get out of the house, surprised at the easiness of the fight. It was that moment that Laura chose to attack me. The only thing I sensed was the pain, the tremendous pain in my stomach. She stabbed me. I fell to the ground, praying the Gods to put an end to it, and suddenly it was all dark.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

The glaring light woke me up, it hurt my eyes. But the other pain was gone, although it felt weird. I felt weird. Where was I? The light was so annoying. I wanted to turn around but somehow I couldn't. What was going on?

"Wow, wow. You might want to calm down a bit"

I recognized Dean's voice.

"What's going on?" I was groggy, but started to regain consciousness. "Where are we?"

"The hospital. Do you remember what happened?"

"The pain… I was stabbed."

"How are you feeling?"

"Weird. I'm not really feeling anything"

"They had to operate on you to repair the damage, but you're doing great"

"What happened to Laura?"

"Sam shot her. But it was too late"

He pointed at my wound. It was the first time I saw Dean look so worried. Sam came in with coffee, and he seemed exhausted. How much time had they spent here?

"Hey, you're awake!" Sam looked relieved. He grabbed my arm and tried to hug.

"It hurts"

"Oh, sorry" He gave me an awkward smile.

"So I guess you're not mad at me anymore" It was my time to smirk. After all, I needed to take advantage of the fact that Sam could not argue with me while I was injured at the hospital.

"Don't even talk about it. It's not the time."

"You girls are such drama queens!" Dean intervened.

We laughed. The brothers clearly looked worried about me so I tried to reassure them. After all, it was not their fault, I should have been more careful. At some point, Dean called Sam outside and they talked for a bit. When they came back, Sam looked deeply saddened.

"What's going on?" The question was aimed at Sam, but I was Dean who answered:

"There's no more of the teddy bear we wanted to buy you"

We laughed again. Dean went out to fill in the papers and said they should take shifts by my side, so he left for the hotel and get some rest. Sam stayed next to me, looking worried.

"What's going on, Sam?"

"Nothing, are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. What's wrong?"

"You're the one on the hospital bed, stop worrying about me"

"You have your brooding face on. Don't lie to a wounded soldier"

"I was just thinking… you could have gotten killed, because of us. We didn't take good care of you"

"You know it wasn't your fault; and you did take good care of me"

"That's not what you said a few days ago!"

"I changed my mind"

"We should have prevented this! We're hunters!"

"And I'm a witch and I did not see it coming, so stop beating yourself up. I never asked for your protection, I asked to be part of the team, and that's unfortunately also what it means"

He didn't look convinced at all, fear started to grow within me. Guilt as well: I didn't want him to feel bad about not protecting me.

"Sam, it's not your fault. I'm not human, you're not supposed to protect me. I am a witch, and what you have done so far is more than I could have asked for. I would have been dead a long time ago without you. It's not your job to protect me, I'm strong, I can do it on my own. And this is nothing compared to what demons have in store for me. You saved me, Sam. You've shown I could fight, that I could be something more than a fugitive."

I took his hand in mine and tried to show how fine I was, in spite of the pain. But a few minutes later, convinced that he did not feel guilty any longer, I fell asleep. It was the kind of sleep you can only achieve with complete exhaustion (and a few pain killers): no dreams, no nightmares, just unconsciousness.

When I woke up, I was all alone in the room and it was dark outside. The hospital was so quiet I could hear the nurses talking from their desk. The Winchesters had probably gone get some rest, much deserved after all the worrying. I rose from the bed and decided that it was time to stand up. I saw my bag on the floor. It was the bag I carried around to every hotel we went, my every belongings. I checked: everything was there; which meant that the brothers had gone. Without me. I was all alone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

My first move was to call the brothers. It was probably nothing and I was freaking out for no reason. But no one answered. I started to panic: the demons knew where I was, they knew I was vulnerable thanks to that witch, and I couldn't defend myself. What if it wasn't nothing and they left me because I was too weak? I called Tom. And I was not proud of it. I was supposed to stand strong on my own two feet, be a powerful witch, and instead at the first defeat I ran back to the first man I could find. But it was either that or die, so principles didn't really matter…

"Tom, hi, it's me"

"What's wrong?" That's when I started to feel really bad. Obviously, if I were calling him it meant that I was in trouble and not that I cared about him enough to pick up the phone for no reason.

"I'm in a hospital…."

"How bad is it? What happened?"

"I was stabbed by a witch, but I'm fine now. Anyway, the Winchesters are gone, and I don't know what to do… Should I leave or do you think I'm safe?"

"Wait there, send me the address, I'm coming"

"Thanks, Tom"

It was as easy as that. A few days later I was released from the hospital and Tom took me home with him. For once, I did not protest, still too hurt by the Winchesters' betrayal. We did not talk about it. We did not talk much actually. His house was very different from the previous one, in the suburbs of a small countryside town of Arizona. I never thought Tom was the commuter, white-picket-fence type of guy. He went on with his life and I stayed in the shadows. He was very distant, probably convinced I would run away when the opportunity came. But I had no intention to do so. All the strength I had gained living with the Winchesters had gone with them. I was not a fighter, but a liability and that was why they had gone without saying goodbye. I had been left on the road like an old dog before holidays. My ideas of being a strong witch were just fantasies. At least, my anger made me stronger as far as my powers were concerned. But anger soon turned to guilt: the guilt of having been a burden, and of being one for Tom. Weeks after I left the hospital, we still barely spoke, which was understandable: not only did I leave him, but I came back when least expected it, and only because I had no one else to turn to. And it was time to apologize for that.

"I'm sorry for what I'm putting you through"

He looked stunned, probably because I had not said a word in a few days… or weeks, I don't remember.

"Don't be ridiculous. You're not putting me through anything"

We were at the dinner table, we had just finished eating.

"You have a life here. I came back and didn't even think of the consequences."

"There are no consequences. I'm fine. And you're safe, so everything's ok"

"I just wanted to say I know what I did and I'm sorry"

"It's alright."

Tom was such a teddy bear that everything went back to normal, as in before the Winchesters "normal". Except that I could not forget what happened. Except that demons left me alone, probably thinking I was still with them. So I finally had what I wanted, a normal life. I could study, hang out with Tom, with whom things nearly went back to the way they were before, apart from the fact that he sometimes looked at me like I was going to disappear any minute. I felt safe with Tom by my side, I was home. But I could not stop thinking about them, about the life I had with them. I wanted to prove them they were wrong.

"I need to hunt, Tom"

"Too dangerous."

"Training is not enough, I need to kill demons to take their strength, you know that"

"You have a normal life now, don't screw it up"

"I don't want to… But Fate is not going away because you want it to"

"You don't know that, they may leave you alone if they know you've stopped using magic"

"I haven't stopped, I'm training. I'm a witch, it won't go away"

"You know what I mean, I just want you to be safe"

"It's always the same issue, isn't it?"

"We tried your way, it didn't work, so trust me now, please"

"The hunters leaving me has nothing to do with this"

"I'm sorry"

"No, you're not"

I ran upstairs before my eyes filled with tears. I was acting like a child, which annoyed me all the more. They all thought I was weak, and crying was not going to help. Maybe they were all right though. Maybe I was only a weak child and it was too hard. Tom knocked at the door.

"Can I come in?"

"No."

He opened the door.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"What? Make me sad? I'm fine. Leave me alone"

He took me in his arms and stroke my hair.

"I didn't mean to patronize you. You have no idea how much I trust you. I'm just scared."

"I know. I'm scared too. That's why I want to grow stronger"

"Then we will, but don't leave me behind."

"Fine"

I did not get much sleep that night. I kept replaying the time I spent with the Winchesters in my head. What did I do wrong? You think you can trust someone, but it's just empty promises really. Why did I care that much? I could start all over, have the normal life I wanted… But I wanted to prove them wrong. I wanted to prove everyone I could do it. So the next day, I started training even harder – not only my powers, but my strength and stamina. And it worked: a month later, I started hunting again. Tom did not like it, but he was to scared to have me run away again to argue.

Months passed, I grew stronger, but I could not forget the Winchesters. They were like a scar that I could hide but would not disappear. I secretly wished that I would meet them again, only to show the brothers what they had lost.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

We had a nice routine, Tom and I. We had settled, and after six months he finally seemed to believe I would stay. So one can understand he did not welcome the Winchesters with open arms when they knocked at our door.

It happened one evening, we had just finished eating, and Tom was marking some papers while I was watching TV. The doorbell rang and I just knew it was them - it's a witch thing, we sense trouble.

"I'm not here" I told Tom before disappearing into my room. I held my breath, and tried to listen.

"She's not here, go away" Tom said, very calm.

"Hello to you, Tom. How are you doing?" Dean replied.

"Get the Hell out of here"

"Why so angry? We're on a case, and we may need help" Dean again.

"Well, why don't you leave your file and _I_'ll have a look at it, when _I_ feel like it"

"How about we come in and talk to her directly."

"You don't get to see her. You gave up that right when you left her in that hospital, injured and alone. She doesn't want to see you and neither do I, so I suggest you get in your damn car and leave this town. Tonight. Because if you don't…"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. I heard a big noise, and Tom moaned. I teleported back to the hall and threw Sam and Dean against the wall, feet off the ground, stuck.

"Are you okay?" I asked Tom. One of them had punched him; he was on the ground, his nose bleeding.

"I'm fine." He stood up.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I kept them on the wall.

"Hey" Dean tried to smirk, but it mustn't be easy when you're not on the ground.

"How dare you punch him in his own house?"

"We just wanted to talk to you and this douchebag…"

"He just knows I _won't_ talk to you."

"Seriously? That's not very professional"

"Get lost. You didn't need me the last few months so you don't need me now either."

"We just wanted to see if you were okay"

"_Sure_, I'm fine. Now go"

"Listen, I know you're hurt, but there are other monsters in town, you may not be safe"

"I said go, now."

I threw them out and slammed the doors. Anger had taken control of my power, and wasn't ready to let go.

"How can they barge in like this?" A mirror broke - seven years of bad luck, they say.

"Calm down, it's okay, they're gone" Tom tried to grab my arm.

"Don't… I need a minute"

I went to the basement, the place where I was training, and where I could not hurt Tom. Energy balls came out of my hands and I didn't know what to do with them. I didn't know what to do with all that power or with all that anger, for that matter. I started crying, Hell knows why. I kneeled down and cried all my anger to the world. The energy balls disappeared, but I stayed a bit longer on my knees moaning about the unfairness of life, and how you could not trust anyone, not even yourself. And then I went back upstairs.

"They left the file" Tom said, with a worried look on his face. I hated the way he seemed to always end up worrying about me.

"They know we can't resist a good case" We laughed. "I won't call them back though"

"Who said we had to?" We had a new case.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The next day, Tom went to work after asking me twenty times if I was okay, and I opened the file. Apparently, five people (three women, two men) had vanished into thin air for three days, before coming back looking perfectly healthy but without any memories. Not only had they forgotten what had happened, but they didn't even remember who they were. There seemed to be no connection between the victims and they lived in different towns. But before I had time to think about it, I heard a knock on the door.

"Coffee?" Sam was standing there, looking apologetic with his puppy eyes. He was wearing his FBI suit.

"No" I simply said, before closing the door on him. Another knock on the door.

"He's been gone for five minutes and you're already there! Go away!" Because of the puppy eyes, I could not be really angry, which was probably why I controlled my powers this time.

"I know you've read the file, Alice"

"It doesn't mean I have to share all my thoughts with you. Now go, before I get angry"

"Fine, but I'll come back later. And please, don't work on your own on this one. I don't want anything like that to happen to you"

That last remark gave me the chills – not the "I'm so in love" chills, the angry chills, the ones a witch has when she is losing control. I could he just leave me and then come back and pretend that he cared, when he clearly did not!

"Don't act like you care!" I cried out of rage before slamming the door at him and disappearing into the basement. Or at least, that is where I intended to go. Instead, I landed on red dust, at the top of the hill in the middle of nowhere. I didn't know where I was, and I didn't care. I started growing energy balls out of my hand until it became a massive one, and then the ball became a streak of lightning that I threw into the air. I pushed all this energy out with a howl, until there was no more anger, no more power. And I came back home as if nothing had happened.

Tom came home for lunch, and I told him that Sam had come to talk. We knew they wouldn't leave us alone until we cooperated. So he came up with a strategy: Tom would go gather information on the case, hunt with them and I would only help if they needed a spell or one of my abilities. But when Tom told Dean, he did not agree with the plan.

"No offence, but we did not come here for _your _help"

"She doesn't want to see you, Dean"

"I don't care, I need to speak to her. Or Sam can speak to her, if she doesn't want to talk to me."

"I don't want to talk to any of you" I interjected while the phone was on speaker.

"Alice, it's important." Dean had his worried voice, which meant that something was wrong, beside the memory-eating monster that walked around town.

"There's no pleading, Dean. You left me alone, you betrayed me. You can't ask for any favors now."

"Don't you think that if we could do otherwise we would come to you? We left you so that you could have a better life, we did not plan to come back and ruin it"

So there _was_ something besides the case.

"Oh, you are _not_ ruining anything. You are going to leave, Dean. You are going to get the Hell away from this town, even if I have to drag you out of it myself…"

It didn't last long before my anger took control, once again. I left for the basement, leaving Tom to handle the boys. But this time, it was different, throwing energy in the air did not work. I felt electric, as if my whole body were covered with lightning. I felt the power in the air around me. I felt the chaos it could bring. I needed to release the tension before I burnt the house down. So I put my tracksuit on and went running. I never ran, I hated it, and my clothes were proof of it – everything was too short and rigid, as if it had never been worn. But that day, I ran – not very far, but fast enough to make me lose my breath and release the anger. I stopped (crashed down would be the exact term) and started breathing again, relaxed and free. The boys had to leave town. I couldn't take all the emotions they brought up in me. I was like a teenage girl going through her first breakup - apart from the fact that I could erase the whole town from the map if I lost it.

I went back home, but the house was empty. Tom had left to meet the victims of the mind-eraser. I decided to look into my books – witches have spell books that they have been passing onto their daughters for generations and, coming from a long line of witches, I had hundreds. In some of them they talked about demons torturing people and erasing their memory, or others feeding off their victim's brain. When I heard the door opening, I ran downstairs to meet Tom and tell him everything that I had found but I stopped when I saw that he was not alone. Sam was here. In my house. Smiling up at me.

"What is _he_ doing here?"

He stopped smiling, looking rather hurt.

"I'll leave you two alone. Thank you for sharing the news, Tom"

"That's nothing. Bye Sam"

Sam left and I went to Tom.

"Since when are you being nice to him?"

"I'm being cordial, see the difference? He is trying to make amends, and he's not a bad guy, compared to Dean…"

"Did you lose your mind too?"

"So... The victims were not really helpful, but I can tell you that they were all abducted at night, and Sam told me that they all came from the same part of town, he thinks they have found the demon's layer…"

"Sam told you?!"

"_And _they all have some kind of tribal sign on the back of their neck"

He showed me a drawing and I told him about the research I had made. But we still didn't know what was out there. He wanted to call Sam to warn them in case they decided to go on a suicide mission.

"You know what? I'm going to do that, and you look into the books"

"_You're_ going to call the Winchesters?"

He smirked. He was usually on the defensive when it came to them. But my fits had probably reassured him as far as my feelings towards the Winchesters were concerned.

"Yeah, they have too much influence over you already"

I went up to my room, took a deep breath and called Dean.

"Dean, it's Alice."

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I know you've found the demon's layer but don't go there yet. I'm still looking into it, but this one is extremely dangerous. You may need something more than the usual guns"

"Ok. Tell me what you find."

"What's the other issue?"

"Did you talk to Sam?"

"No. And I've asked you to stay out of my house, by the way. You guys cannot take a hint"

"I can't talk right now. Later"

Dean hang up the phone. And now I was even more curious. Maybe that was the plan – maybe he wanted to talk so bad that he made it all up – and I walked right into it. So I decided not to care. I was the witch, and if he really needed my help, then he would have to beg. I went back downstairs, determined to stay the powerful one.

"What's up with the smile?"

Tom looked suspicious.

"I'm getting stronger, I like that"

"And you said the Winchesters had too much power over _me_…"

"Like you could resist Sam's puppy eyes earlier?"

"I found something. Here, they're talking about a symbol on the demon's hand, and when he uses it to take away the memories, it gets tattooed on the victim"

"But we don't know if it's this symbol…"

"It's the only one talking about a symbol. And listen, the demon puts the victims into a coma so that it can feed from their memories. That's why they're still alive"

"How do we kill it?"

"A potion, and a spell. It looks pretty strong, you're going to have to use a lot of your powers. But it looks like killing the demon can bring back the victim's memories"

"So many good news! I'll work on it right now. You should get some sleep, you have class tomorrow"

"Yes, mummy. Shouldn't we tell the Winchesters?"

"Why? We don't need them"

I went into the basement to prepare the spell and the potion, and Tom went to sleep. Contrary to popular belief, a witch doesn't just say a few words and throw some herbs into a cauldron to get whatever she wants. For magic to happen, you have to work for it and give some power to the spell or the potion. And when you don't control your powers like me, it can be quite a tricky process, but in the morning, I was ready. Tom and I decided to get rid of the demon before the day really started, so we went to the layer and found the hunters' Impala right in front of it. We ran inside to find Sam and Dean, unconscious. Tom tried to wake them up while I was looking for the demon. We were in an empty factory, so the demon had many places to hide. After looking for quite some time, I finally found it in a room where empty containers were stored. It was rather easy to come close enough to throw the potion at him, but it was harder to say the spell without getting caught. A few minutes later, the demon was gone and I went back to Tom.

"Are you ok?"

Tom looked worried because of the dirt on my clothes and scratches on my face. He didn't like when I went hunting without him.

"I'm fine. The demon's dead. How are they doing?"

"They're ok, but no memories for now."

"We should get them back home until it comes back to normal"

I helped Tom drag each Winchester into the car and we came back home, left them on the couch and I went for a shower. I reassured Tom so that he wouldn't miss another day of work, he left and I stayed there, in the kitchen, far away from the brothers. An hour later, one of them started to stir. When I came into the room, Dean was getting up, scratching his head and moaning "what the…"

"You shouldn't move that fast, you were injured"

I sat next to him, studying his moves to see if he was okay, and if he remembered.

"I'm fine. How is Sammy?"

"Still sleeping. But I guess he's okay too."

"I have to thank you, _again_, then."

"No need."

I went to the kitchen to make some coffee, even though he would have preferred a beer, or something stronger. When I handed the cup to him, he put his hand on my arm and said "Thank you, really". Sam started to wake up as well. Dean went sitting next to him, hugging him to show how glad he was that his little brother survived, once again. They sat there, while I told them about the demon and how we saved them. After a while, Sam said:

"I guess you're happy here"

Dean looked at him with an indefinable expression, somewhere between anger and sadness. But Sam did not notice it, he was staring straight into my eyes, until I replied:

"I am, indeed"

"Then, we should probably go."

They got up. Sam hugged me and told me how nice it had been to see me again. He got into his car, while Dean was lingering behind. I turned to him.

"Bye, Dean."

"Alice, I need you to come back." There we went. I closed the door.

"Forget it, Dean. I'm fine where I am."

"I know but… Sam's in danger and I don't know what to do"

"What's wrong with Sam?"

"It's his powers. When my dad died he said I had to take care of him but now I know… he has demon's blood in him. That's why he has powers. And he can't control it."

"There's nothing I can do about that, Dean."

"Teach him. Control it. Hell, make it go away. Try something, please. He won't listen to me, ever since this demon showed up at his doorstep. She convinced him he could be a hero with his powers."

"And that's where I fit in? You made it pretty clear that I was only a liability, I don't see what I can do"

"You're not. We wanted to protect you, but the truth is, we were better off _with _you. You've helped before, and you know how much I hate to say it. He cares about you, Alice. He _will _listen to you. And I care about you too. I know you don't want this life anymore, you want to be a fighter, not a small town girl"

"You don't know what I want, Dean. You never got to know me. You abandoned me, remember, so…sorry if you're disappointed that I'm not running straight back to you"

"Sam did not choose to leave, I did. He shouldn't pay for what I did"

"Sam left. He could have left a note at least, but he didn't. He is responsible for his actions, Dean, he is an adult"

"But he won't betray me. And I can't betray him either, Alice. I can't kill him if he turns evil, I just can't."

"But _I_ would?!"

"I'm not asking you to do that, I'm asking you to save him. Come with us, help him deal with the powers, work your damn magic. Hell, I don't know. You like him, he's your friend… don't leave him like this"

"You left me like this"

"I know! I know, alright! I'm sorry for what I've done. He's miserable. Ever since we left you in that hospital he's been miserable. That's why it was so easy for that demon chick to talk him into doing whatever she wants. She's trying to replace you! He got used to you, and I took him away. I'm sorry for what I did, that's why I'm here, to repair the damage. I'll do whatever you want"

"There's nothing left to repair, Dean."

"You would help any other human in that situation, because you're a good person. You save people - even those who don't deserve it. I'm asking you to please consider saving him, not because he was your friend, but because that's what you do" I sigh.

"Can I take some time to think about it?"

"Yes. Thank you, Alice"

The car disappeared at the end of the road and I closed the door, a weight on my stomach. Should I leave Tom again, after everything he had done for me? It was not fair. But not helping Sam did not seem fair either. Dean was right - I had to help him, like any other person. That was my job. But it did not mean I had to leave my best friend behind. I wanted him by my side too.

I spent the day wandering around the house, waiting for Tom to come back. I felt anxious about his reaction, about my decision… Everything was such a mess. When he finally got home, I told him that the Winchesters were gone and asked him to discuss an issue.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, stop worrying all the time! Dean explained to me why they left me in the hospital"

Tom stayed still and mum.

"And he wants me back"

"No."

"I'm not asking for your opinion here"

"No."

"I'm only thinking about it, alright. There are things that need to be considered"

"No. You're not doing this to me twice"

"I know."

"They left you to die in this hospital, unprotected. They don't care about you. They are only using you. Don't choose them over me, please"

"I'm not. I don't know, ok! But Sam's in danger and there's a part of me that tells me that helping them is the right thing to do, no matter how unfaithful they were to me."

"They did not protect you over there, and you're considering leaving everything behind for them again! Are you so unhappy to have a normal life? What is wrong with you?"

"I was going to ask you if we could help him from here, without me having to go with them, but I guess we're passed that, now."

I ran up the stairs, locked myself up in my room and started crying, wondering why it was always on me to save the world.


End file.
